“There has never previously been a tool that enables an understanding of how much carbon can be stored in the soil of individual fields or farms, based solely on gold standard soil core data.”
Summary
- First ever AI driven tool to enable UK farmers and landowners to understand how much carbon could be stored in their soils
- Net Zero incentive plans can now be made by government agencies based on understanding where the most soil carbon can be stored across the UK
- Supply chains of brands and retailers can now improve Scope 3 emissions reporting
- New easy-to-use tool based on peer-reviewed science published in Nature
- All agricultural land included as well as soils in forestry and parks
(London/St. Louis) A new online tool launched on Wednesday by Soil in Formation (SIF) in coordination with UK based Verdant Carbon enables government agencies, supply chains, farmers and land owners to find out for the first time how much carbon could be removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil of every agricultural field in the UK.
The new carbon prospecting tool ‘SIF Attain’ aims to enable the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and other UK government agencies to incentivize farmers more accurately for carbon sequestration and improvements in soil health. It would also enable DEFRA to put a detailed plan in place on how to meet their net zero goals before 2050 in England and Wales and the Scottish Government to meet their 2045 net zero target.
UK soils currently store approximately 10 billion tons of carbon, which is roughly equivalent to 80 years of the UK’s current annual greenhouse gas emissions. The topsoil organic carbon pool is at high risk in 43 to 83 million hectares of EU and UK agricultural land, primarily in cool and humid regions, according to a JRC-led study published in Nature Communications in March. This corresponds to between 23% and 44% of all EU and UK agricultural land. In the UK alone, it is estimated that 0.6% of soil carbon is being lost every year.
“There has never previously been a tool that enables an accurate and affordable understanding of how much carbon can be stored in the soil of individual fields or farms. We must understand what is possible so we can properly plan how to protect our soils through practice changes that are based on outcome-based data and not guesses,” stated Henry Rowlands, Soil in Formation’s CEO.
“SIF Attain is vastly different to any other carbon reporting tool, as instead of using inaccurate satellite data that simply doesn’t work on its own for soil, we have used vast data sets of gold standard lab results, collected since 1950. The new generation of AI has enabled us to create a standardized reporting system from this data that is both accurate and scalable at a high resolution for every field in the UK,” Rowlands continued.
The database and AI programs that were incorporated into the SIF Attain tool were created by leading scientists at two of the largest agricultural institutes in the U.S. – Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Arizona State University – in a 3-year effort. The first part of this work has already been published in Nature and has also been included in peer-reviewed real-time soil measurement trials to add context to the results.
“This approach to temporal soil modeling has a strong concentration on ground-truth data compared to satellite modeling. It enables a better understanding of what is really possible when it comes to soil carbon sequestration,” said Dr. Anil Somenahally, who led the project at Texas A&M AgriLife Research.
“AI is vital for enabling this data to come to life. We tried multiple machine learning approaches to enable temporal modeling of soil carbon, with the final approach selected enabling a very good predictive model based on many covariates,” added Dr. Saurav Kumar, Assistant Professor at Arizona State University.
Prior to the prospecting tool’s launch on Wednesday SIF has already started working with the Kent-based soil carbon measurement company Verdant Carbon on pre-selling data to clients across the UK. According to Dave Gollins, Founder of Verdant Carbon, “We believe this significant development empowers our clients to assess the potential for carbon sequestration on their land, providing valuable insights into how much they can improve their soil carbon content. The SIF Attain model offers a powerful tool to address the common question: ‘How much can we enhance the carbon content of our soils?’ By applying this tool at the landscape scale, decision-makers can identify areas most suitable for further investigation and exploration of carbon sequestration opportunities.”
The market reaction to the SIF Attain rollout has been positive including being adopted by Two Hands, a leading technology provider connecting the regenerative supply chain in the UK. Two Hands Co-Founder Greg McLardie says, “What excites me most about SIF’s approach is that it moves us beyond theoretical carbon modeling to actionable, field-level intelligence that farmers can trust and act upon.”
The UK’s specialist nature restoration business RESTORE has also adopted SIF Attain and Ross Wingfield, RESTORE’s Restoration Director, explained that “the ability to link our current data with that of SIF means that we have ability to plan with more confidence how we will go about bringing the soil back to full ecological functionality.”
Finian Makepeace, co-founder of Kiss the Ground and producer of the globally acclaimed Kiss the Ground and Common Ground documentaries, sees SIF Attain as a pivotal opportunity to accelerate the global shift towards regenerative agriculture; “I’m excited that SIF’s soil health database moves us beyond the measurement of a single organic carbon data point untethered to context. The SIF contextual platform recognizes a far deeper truth: ecosystems, including their carbon components, are dynamic, and farmers are on a journey that may take their farms to optimized ecological vitality. SIF’s database may help unlock critical support for farmers, and I’ll be eager to see how farmers, supply chains, and governments use SIF’s contextual approach.”
Media Contacts:
Daniel Garblik
Soil in Formation, PBC
Notes for Editors
Please find more information on SIF Attain here: https://sifearth.com/sif-attain/